Day: March 9, 2018

Vacation Gone South by Will Brink is a short story with lots of entertaining writing. If you are ever considering taking a vacation in a country where it is quite possible you will be shot, and you want to review or hone your escape skills, this short read might be the guide for you. The writing is entertaining and within the first few pages, I knew I would soon look for longer works by this author. In the first few pages, the author is attempting to escape from an imminent threat. Here are a few examples of his writing style that I liked:

“I kept an eye on my six, as well as my three, nine, and twelve!” (Kindle locations 42-43).

“I counted three goons exiting the car and the driver seemingly staying put to make for a speedy exfil once they had done the deed and smote my ruin all over the tile in this here shoe store.” (Kindle locations 62-63).

The writing style is entertaining and might be a type of how-to-do-it guide for someone needing to evade detection for several hours while waiting for rescue forces to arrive. Many times, the protagonist disparages depictions of violence on television and in the movies. It just doesn’t happen that way. Although fiction, this novel also gives accurate information. Just because handgun fire hits the target doesn’t automatically mean the target will stop or become less of a threat. True. Just because someone is armed with only a knife does not mean they are less of a lethal threat than someone armed with a handgun. True. Hiding in plain sight is best but requires training (and practice). True. And the ultimate truism: Sometimes all the training and experience doesn’t matter. Chance and bad luck sometimes rule. True.

There is a lot of tongue-in-cheek humor expressed through writing which contains slang, jargon, and a lot of military abbreviations, some explained, some not. None will unduly burden the reader as the story continues to entertain.

If you finish this short story and think in terms like “ridiculous” or “highly improbable,” read the authors Bio section. It is very impressive and “fact-checkable.” I will look for further writing by this author. This story does not give any clues about further fiction writing but does provide an address for those seeking consulting services. This is a fun book which I gave four Amazon stars.